Writing Lessons in Japan

1895

The Instructor Must Not Speak to His Princely Pupils.

One of the most remarkable occurrences one meets in Japan is the instruction in chirography given to a daimio, a member of the Japanese military nobility.

The writing teacher, who is called a professor there as well as here, prepares the copies in secret, so they can be used only for the little prince in question. A swarm of maids is busy waiting on the daimio, fetching and preparing what pupil and teacher need. At the appointed hour the professor makes his appearance. Without saying a word, and with the most funereal countenance, he approaches his pupil. A white napkin covers his mouth, so that his breath cannot offend the little prince. The Japanese are very sensitive in this regard. After exhausting every possible form of silent greeting the professor sits down, rules the paper and begins the instruction.

When the daimio has scribbled over several of the lines, it is the duty of the teacher to go into raptures over the wonderful talent of the youngster. Tears of joy must fill his eyes, but all must be done in silence; not a word must be spoken to the daimio. All the professor is permitted to do is to call the head maid, commissioning her to express in proper language his most devoted admiration. — St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Must Be of Gentle Birth

1895

Pages at European Courts, Their Pay and Their Gorgeous Uniforms.

It is only at the imperial and royal courts of Europe that "the pretty page with the dimpled chin," so sweetly sung by the poet, and who constituted one of the most picturesque and romantic features of mediaeval times, still survives. Royal and imperial pages range in age from 12 to 16 years. They are appointed by the sovereign, enjoy pay, prerogatives and perquisite, much as do the grownup attendants on royalty, and are ascribed certain definite duties. Gentle birth is the first qualification for the post of royal page. At the courts of Vienna and Munich an ancestry of no less than 16 generations free from any plebeian strains on either father's or mother's side is required. In Britain and Russia so long a nobility is not demanded. The pages of honor in the court of Queen Victoria are generally the sons of distinguished officers of the army or of high dignitaries of the royal household.

These boys receive $500 a year each, and when they have served a period of five years each is presented with a commission in the guards. On state occasions they wear gorgeous uniforms of blue and silver. Besides serving on such occasions they have to devote a certain number of weeks every year to more private service at Windsor or at Osborne. One of their chief functions is to bear the queen's train when she holds a meeting of the privy council. The queen is rigid in her etiquette and never presides at councils without wearing her long black silk court train.

At the court of Berlin the pages figure at all state ceremonies, clad, like those of England, in blue and silver, and at the court banquets they stand behind the chairs of the royal and imperial personages. These personages, on rising from the table, sometimes address a few kindly words to the boys and present them with sweetmeats from the epergnes. These pages are chosen only from among the best looking boys of the School of Cadets, nearly all the members of which are of noble birth. At the court of St. Petersburg the corps of pages is a sort of imperial school where a number of lads, sons of noblemen and state dignitaries, both civil and military, are educated at the czar's expense and under his supervision. On attaining the eighteenth year they usually obtain commissions as officers of the regiment of Chevalier guards. — Pearson's Weekly.

Queer Nobles

1896

Fancy being able to purchase a wealthy nobleman's residence for $75. Yet that is the sum which was paid the other day for the house in which the late Lord Donington passed the greater part of last winter.

His Lordship — he died a few months back — possessed a seat called Farleigh-Hungerford Castle, in Somerset, England, but he had been induced, as he had several other residences, to let the castle for a term of years. When he got ill last year he fancied that the air on his Farleigh estate would benefit his health, but he scarcely liked to intrude himself on his tenant, and so, in one of the fields near the castle, not included in the tenant's lease, he had a wooden hut built, twenty-seven feet by twenty-five feet and some twelve feet in height. This he had divided into four cabin-like rooms, and in that little place, accompanied by a couple of servants, he passed several months last winter.

He was the husband of the late Lady Maud Hastings, who, on the death of her brother, the last Marquis of Hastings, became Countess of Loudoun in her own right. — New York Mail and Express.

This Swindler Outdoes Fiction

1908

Pittsburg Society Folk Are Victims of Alleged Remarkable Crook

Pittsburg. — A career more extraordinary than half the villains of fiction is charged against Reginald Spauldlng, or Oscar F. Spate, or George Frederick Spate, the man who proposed to introduce Pittsburg people of wealth at the court of St. James in exchange for Pittsburg money.

Pittsburgers who wined and dined Spaulding a few days ago will be horrified when they learn that he is said to have been a convict in South Africa, but they can take some consolation out of another report that he is a son-in-law of Lady Suffield, the woman who, he asserted, would bring about the introductions at the court of St. James. It is charged against the prisoner that he sold his noble wife a "salted" mine and then abandoned her in the interior of South Africa.

The Pittsburg police received a letter from Inspector McCafferty of the New York police department containing a report which one of the New York detectives made on Spaulding. The report follows:

"Spate is the same man whom I met in Cape Town, South Africa, at the Mount Nelson hotel. He advertised there for men to act as agents for the American Trading company. They were to go into the interior of South Africa and collect hides and ivory from the natives, which they were to ship to various points. These agents were required to deposit £100 in money to secure the position.

"He collected the amount from many young men. This was in March, 1903. He was arrested while boarding the steamer Walmer Castle for England. He was convicted and served for two years in the government prison. He was also at Johannesburg, South Africa, and tried to secure a franchise from the park commissioners to put benches in Joubert park, but was refused."

Simultaneously with this report, a communication reached the Pittsburg police from a source which they will not divulge to the effect that Spaulding under the name of George Fredrick Spate in 1902, was married to Muriel, daughter of Lord and Lady Suffield, who left her home in London because of a difference with her parents, and went to South Africa during the Boer war as a Red Cross nurse, in consequence her parents disowned her, and her name was removed from the records of the British nobility.

It is claimed Spate is a younger son of a noble English family.

He secured a subaltern berth in the English army and fought in South Africa during the Boer war.

It was while he was wandering about South Africa that he is alleged to have married the daughter of Lord and Lady Suffield. Spate is alleged to have interested his wife in a diamond mine which he had "salted" and finally sold the mine to her and some others for a large sum.

Before the discovery was made that the mine was "salted," Spate is said to have taken his wife into the interior of Africa, where he deserted her in the land of the Zulu chief, Mosilikaps.

He returned to Johannesburg, where he circulated a story to the effect that his wife had been killed by the natives. Spate then started to organize a new Zulu kingdom, with himself as chief, with the purported object of going into the land of Mosilikaps and avenging the death of his wife. Just about this time, however, the woman appeared at Johannesburg.

A Magnificent Speech on Tennyson's "Enoch Arden"

Georgia, 1896

A Magnificent Speech

Miss Edna Miller, of Miss Hanna's School, in Debate

Her Speech Delivered at the Tennyson Evening Given by Miss Hanna's School Was Superb

On the evening of the 2d of this month the girls of Miss Hanna's school gave a Tennyson evening, which proved a great success. The greater part of the programme was a debate upon the subject, "Resolved, That Philip Ray was a nobler character than Enoch Arden."

About a half dozen were on either side and the debate was one of the best ever heard by girls. A committee composed of Dr. J. B. Hawthorne, Judge Milton A. Candler, Colonel W. S. Thomson and Mr. C. L. Brooks decided the debated question in favor of the negative side, but Dr. Hawthorne in stating the decision, said that this was only because the burden of proof rested upon the affirmative side. He said they had done equally as well as the other side, but no better, consequently the decision was for the negative side.

The speech of Miss Edna Miller, the bright young daughter of Captain John A. Miller, on this occasion so impressed the large audience that The Junior publishes it in full this week with the picture of the bright girl who delivered it with such becoming grace. Never before did a fifteen-year-old girl impress an audience so deeply. Her speech was frequently interrupted with applause.

"Resolved, That in Tennyson's poem, 'Enoch Arden,' of the two principal characters Philip Ray's was the nobler."

The English language has few, if any, tenderer, purer, sweeter or more pathetic stories than that which gives to us the characters of Enoch Arden, Philip Ray and Annie Lee.

The immortal Tennyson in this tale of love and pathos, of griefs and joys, gives to the world three of the most lofty, noble and unselfish characters known to our literature. Of these characters we shall contend that Philip Ray's was the noblest — the most exalted.

While the discussion proposed for this evening must of necessity magnify and elevate characters respectively championed, still it would seem a little unfortunate that two such characters as Enoch Arden and Philip Ray should be brought into that contrast which debates always require.

Before entering properly into the discussion of our subject we desire to insist that the story of Enoch Arden, as told by Tennyson, makes a complete record of the facts. That the pictures, so to say, as he paints them are all that can be legitimately considered.

I am aware that the temptation here to indulge in flights of fancy and imagination is great, but contend that no speculation as to motives or conditions or circumstances not specified in the poem should be given weight.

That nobleness of soul and character which stamps its possessor as a true hero most frequently exists in lives of suffering hid behind faces that smile.

The greatest battles of this life are those that are fought within the hearts of men. Great heroes suffer and are silent. The true test — and the hardest — of greatness of heart is in weathering disappointments and bearing with grace defeats.

Enoch Arden spoke his love, Philip Ray loved in silence. As the current of the mighty river his love, though silent, was deep and enduring, Enoch Arden was the successful suitor of the hand of the fair Annie Lee. Philip Ray was rejected.

Our story does not disclose in the life of Enoch Arden that any such severe test was ever applied to him as the youthful Philip Ray was forced to meet when he sued for the hand of Annie Lee and lost, and was forced to become a spectator to the bliss which his life coveted.

That strength of mind and nobility of heart which enables an individual to suffer and smile as Philip Ray did through this most trying ordeal is an unmistakable evidence of the highest order of heroism; the magnanimity with which he yields this prize, the absence of revenge and resentment and the unselfishness with which he labored ever afterwards to promote the highest interest of his successful rival is absolute proof of his pre-eminent nobility. The basis of all true heroism is unselfishness. That heart which can resign to another those things most loved is truly noble. To illustrate how far this nobleness of soul was found in the character of Phillip Ray let us briefly recount his cares and his battles and how he met them.

Without murmur or complaint he bowed to the choice which Annie Lee made between himself and Enoch Arden. From the standpoint of human nature his treatment to Enoch Arden and Annie Lee after this would have been indifferent and unfriendly, but with him, never for once is such a spirit manifested. During Enoch Arden's long absence on his unfortunate sea voyage he is ever mindful of the highest interest of his wife and children. When the hand of providence opened the way he came to Annie in her grief and despair and comforted her and helped her — educated her children and made himself a father to them, saying all the while he desired to carry out what Enoch wished.

In every way did he seek to contribute to the need of Annie and her children, and that, too, with that delicate loftiness of heart which makes him at once the very paragon of nobleness and goodness. When ten long years had elapsed since Enoch Arden's departure and all hope of his return had died, he ventured to make Annie his wife, saying all the while that he would be content to be loved a little less than Enoch. And when Annie puts him off from year to year, and month to month he tenderly tells her to take her own time — his every action proving that in seeking to become the husband of the supposed widow his highest desire is to gain the position wherein he can best contribute to her needs and promote her welfare. Unselfish, generous, noble Philip Ray — let no tongue seek to cast a blot upon the manliness and nobility of heart which knows no malice, no revenge.

What grave injustice is done to true magnanimity when anything but the highest of motives is assigned for the most exalted actions.

Enoch Arden had his trials, but none that showed the great and noble character which Philip Ray's life developed. Enoch Arden was shipwrecked at sea, but Philip Ray had shipwrecked hopes. Enoch Arden was far removed from the scene of his home and loved ones, Philip Ray from the time that Enoch Arden won the hand of Annie Lee was a constant spectator of his own blasted hopes. The superlative degree of nobility and heroism finds a proper illustration only in the ability of the individual to live in unselfishness and in the every outward indication of absolute peace of mind while coming in daily contact with the fact which robs life of its charm. Without murmur of complaint Philip Ray for long, long years was a witness to the joy and happiness of the more fortunate Enoch Arden. Measured by any standard which true philosophy accepts Philip Ray has no superior in any country or any age.

In these two characters we find much to admire and love, much to commend and little to condemn. Weighed, however, in that balance which estimates true nobility, generosity of soul and loftiness of purpose and of heart, and the character of Philip Ray has scarcely a parallel. While less strong and daring in physique than Enoch Arden, yet that strength of soul which makes true nobility was found in him to a higher degree than in Enoch Arden. Enoch Arden's life was more dashing, perchance more brilliant, and certainly more dramatic, but it clearly lacked that evenness of temper, that patient fortitude, that noble self-sacrifice which Philip Ray's possessed. The tragic ending of Enoch Arden's life certainly moves us to sympathetic tears and genuine grief, but this should not draw us from a proper consideration of the true greatness of the character of Philip Ray.

In the great battles royal of life — wherein are determined the highest nobility — no test can be more trying and more searching than that to which the poet subjects Philip Ray. The test was like a refiner's fire. How well he stood it and what greatness of character he displays, the story itself reveals. No one who pretends to a knowledge of what constitutes true strength of character will for a moment doubt or dispute that more of the elements of the true and noble soul are found to exist in the character of Philip Ray than in Enoch Arden. And pray, how are we to judge of nobility of soul if not by the standard of practical every-day greatness? What a low standard of greatness is set up if we allow the sad surroundings of Enoch Arden to outweigh the true nobleness of Philip Ray! Take nine out of ten of the civilized men and under like environments with Enoch Arden they would become the hero he did. But how many of the same men do we see failing in the every day battles of life which were so bravely fought and won by Philip Ray?

Enoch Arden excites our pity and compassion — the exalted character of Philip Ray commands our profoundest respect and admiration.

—The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, March 22, 1896, p. 2 children's section, The Constitution, Jr.

Note: No picture of Edna Miller was actually printed with the article.

Eli Clouse Revives Annual Hunting Story

1909

It is reported in the city papers that Eli Clouse of Friend's Cove, 30 miles northeast from Cumberland, in Bedford County, has again killed a big deer that had been roaming over the Martin Mountain for many years. The deer was called "Old Elick." It is peculiar that the same old Eli Clouse kills the same old deer every year but he does. Next year "Old Elick" will be roaming again and old Clouse will kill him and tell the old story again to the old hunters who come to hunt on the State reservation and the story will get in the city papers as is its custom. Another peculiar feature of this story is that Martin Hill, where Clouse kills his old deer, is only a few miles from each reporter's headquarters. Surely the mountain do move as often as the deer has lives. It is the reporter's faith that moves the mountain every time. — Cumberland Alleganian.


The Man in the Moon

Russian folklore tells that the man in the moon was one who was seeking the isle in which there is no death. At last, after traveling far, he found the longed-for heaven and look up his above in the moon. After a hundred years had passed, death called for him one Christmas eve and a fierce struggle ensued with the moon, who was victorious; and so the man stayed where he was.


Daily Thought

Whoever you are, be noble; Whatever you do, do well; Whenever you speak, speak kindly — Give joy wherever you dwell.